Abstract :

 

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he objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary sumac seed powder (SSP) as an antioxidant and growth promoter on growth performance, carcass characteristics and blood constituents. A total number of 240 Japanese quail birds 7 days old were distributed into 4 groups (n=60) with 3 replicates (20 in each). The first group was fed the control (0.0% SSP), while, the other groups fed 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5% SSP. Body weight and feed consumption were recorded biweekly, while, mortality rate was recorded daily. Average body weight gains, feed conversion ratio, and European Production Efficiency Index (EPEI) were calculated while; bacterial count of intestinal contents was estimated.At the end of the experiment, carcass characteristics were measured, moreover, blood samples were taken to determine some blood constituents and organoleptic evaluation of cooked chicken meat. Results indicated that quail chicks fed different levels of SSP had the heaviest (p<0.05) body weight and body weight gain and better FCR and EPEI as compared to the control group. Sumac Seed Powder with different levels significantly (p<0.05) improved dressing, breast, total edible parts and the values of the meat quality including taste, aroma, texture, color and overall acceptability compared to the control group. Abdominal fat percentage was absent with different levels of sumac compared to control group. Chicks fed 2 and 2.5%SSP showed significantly (p<0.05) higher spleen, bursa and thymus. The ALT, AST, cholesterol, LDL, glucose, A/G and the population of E.coli  of the control were higher than the birds fed SSP. Total antioxidants capacity, total lipids and globulin of the sumac fed groups were higher than the birds in control. Total plasma protein was significantly higher with 2%SSP compared to other treatments. Generally, diets supplemented with sumac seed powder (1.5, 2 and 2.5%) significantly improved growth performance, carcass, meat quality and plasma blood constituents in Japanese quail. The best supplemented level of SSP was 2%.

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